|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I change. Mostly I run in the forest." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Kazie leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. "What's that like?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Running through the woods?" The old man nodded. "Mr. Mabuto, I can hardly describe it. It's the most wonderful feeling in the world. You see everything, smell, taste and hear everything. The wind speaks to you. The earth rises to meet your feet and the night embraces you as its own. Sometimes I don't want to come back." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Well . . . I'm responsible for Kyna. You've seen her. She's special." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Okay. To answer your question: Why'd I tell you all this? I want something from you." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cyrus was on his guard then: His senses peaked and Kazie's body was suddenly outlined by that eerie green glow. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Calm down, boy. All I want you to do is bite me." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"Bite you? Are you nuts?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"No. I'm dying. Dying slow and hard. Every day is pain and blood and runny shit. I go to that place they call a hospital and they zap me with X rays and shoot me full of poison. My hair is starting to go. I can't eat nothing but that soup shit." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cyrus was quiet, thinking. He looked at Kazie Mabuto and let his own form of X ray go out to the man. And he felt it. The cancer was chewing at the man's insides like slow acid with teeth. The smell of death in Kazie's lungs was like wet decay and the white-hot pain radiating from his skin was as plain as a Kirlian photograph. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"If I did bite you, what would you do?" Cyrus asked. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"I'd go away. Maybe up north. Canada. Or east to Colorado. Get me a place in the mountains." |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"If you're sick, won't you be in danger if I change?" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
"What have I got to lose? A few more weeks in that hospital? A few more days of pain? Either way, boy, you do me a favor." Kazie smiled then. It was the sad but hopeful smile |
|
|
|
|
|